


Conspiracy Theories

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Learning Normal, Finding Home [6]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adorable fantASTIC kids in fact, F/M, Kid Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-22
Updated: 2013-11-22
Packaged: 2018-01-02 09:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth, Percy, and Nico’s fellow parents have some pretty wild theories about what their family gets up to.<br/>(A short in which Bobby turns six and Nico, Jason, and Percy can't get through a birthday party without a little mortal peril)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conspiracy Theories

**Author's Note:**

> This series is a joy to write, so I'm just gonna keep doing that until I run out of ideas.  
> Mostly because I spent so much time writing depressing stuff after the book came out and now I'm trying to make myself feel better

Probably the best part of being in an ambiguously nontraditional relationship was watching the mothers of their children's classmates try to sort the whole thing out. It gets that much better when the mortal acquaintances and the Seven end up at the same social events, like birthday parties and the like.

Or sometimes, just as they pass each other in the doorway.

“'Bye, Nico,” Hazel said, kissing him on the cheek just as Susan Wendall walked into the house with Ben for a playdate.

“See you saturday,” replied Nico. He waved good-bye and watched her go.

After Annabeth and Susan had set Ben up in the playroom upstairs with Marina and the legos, they sat down in the kitchen with some tea and cookies and the first thing Susan asked was, “So who was _that_?”

“Oh, Hazel?” Annabeth said. “She's Nico's half-sister. She'll be at the party on saturday, if you want to meet her properly.”

“ _Seriously_?” asked Susan. “You're kidding. Those two? Related?”

“Uh huh,” replied Annabeth disinterestedly. “Do you want another cookie?”

It happened again at Bobby's birthday party that Saturday, only with more people.

All of the Seven were there, plus Calypso, plus children, and the looks they were all getting from the mortal parents ranged from curious to plain confused.

Four different people had separately asked Annabeth in hushed voices who all of these people were, and Annabeth had shrugged every time and said that they'd all grown up together. “Summer camp.”

The best reaction was probably, “No, _no way_. You cannot _seriously_ be telling me that you went to summer camp with a movie star's daughter, a quirky inventor, his impossibly attractive girlfriend, and what appears to be several male models -” she waved a hand vaguely at Percy, Jason, and Frank, “and don't even get me _started_ on those two.” She pointed to Nico and Hazel, who were being climbed all over by an enthusiastic toddler. “See, see I don't believe that you're all summer camp buddies. I bet you're all... spies or something! And you're their boss!”

Annabeth laughed. “Sure, sure.”

It was about then that Annabeth noticed Percy slip out the back, followed shortly by Jason and Nico. She knew better than to worry, just made sure that none of the children – not Marina or Ellis Grace, especially, because both have finely tuned “dad just ran off to fight monsters” senses – raised too much of a fuss over the whole thing.

Not raising a fuss.

Right.

That worked exactly until Percy, Nico, and Jason stumbled in the front door, bruised and bloody but overall not dead, and caught Nadia Lawrence's eye.

“Oh my God!” she screamed. “What happened?”

Percy winced. “We went out for, uh, ice.”

“And we got mugged,” Jason jumped in.

Annabeth resisted the urge to groan loudly. She caught Piper's eye and could tell that she was thinking the same thing: _for the love of the gods, couldn't they have come up with something better than that_?

And suddenly the mortals were in uproar, offering to call the police, trying to keep the children calm (“They weren't even paying attention until you started screaming about the police, _Helen!_ ”).

“Everybody _shut up!_ ” Annabeth called. Everyone froze. “There's no need to call the police. There is no need to go to the hospital. Percy, Nico, and Jason are fine. Aren't you fine, guys?”

“Yeah, of course,” said Jason.

“A-okay,” agreed Percy.

Nico just nodded, and Annabeth had a sneaking suspicion that he was afraid that speaking would give away a certain degree of not okay that really wouldn't reassure the mortals.

Behind the backs of the aforementioned mortal friends, Annabeth jerked her head to one side to indicate that the guys should really go upstairs where they keep the emergency kit instead of staring blankly at the guests.

Hours later, everyone had gone home, Marina and Bobby were tucked in and theoretically asleep, and Percy and Nico were sitting in the upstairs bathroom while Annabeth patched them up.

“You two,” she said, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to a bruised face, “are idiots.”

“But we're _your_ idiots,” Percy replied.

“You know that Steph Nelson thinks we're spies now?” Annabeth said. “She did before, I mean, but more now. Because you guys and Jason can't get through a birthday party without almost getting killed.”

“That's awesome, though!” said Nico. “We'd make _great_ spies!”

“We'd make _awful_ spies.”

“No, no, I think Nico's got a point, Annabeth.”

“You two would attract so many monsters you wouldn't be able to finish a single mission. You'd be terrible.”

“...oh.”

“Right.”


End file.
